I'm on Mars and Twitter… whoop-dee-fricken-doo.

Now that that’s out of the way – I want to talk to you about the current government shut-down. Obviously, this might be long over by the time you read this, but all the same – I don’t want to discuss blame or cause or reason… except for the reason of science, which is pretty reasonable. Anyhow, what I want to talk about is doing a science this week – in support of those federal employees who are legally and contractually prohibited from doing or talking about the science they love to do.

That’s right – during a federal government shut-down, some employees are not even allowed to give talks, lectures, or tend to their experiments. Government labs are shut down – biological research is halted, (and in some cases ruined!) and other education, outreach, and information services are suspended.

In short, it’s a terrible week for science!

So here’s what I’d like. This week, and until the shut-down is over – I would like you to take a picture of yourself doing a science. ANY SCIENCE (keep it safe for work and school though, nerds) Take a picture of your science and post it on Twitter with the hashtag, #shutdownscienceclub.

@SarcasticRover will be retweeting the best ones I see (though bear in mind, I won’t see them all) – and you should keep your eyes out for amazing sciences with the hashtag as well.

I really want everyone to know that just because funding stops, that doesn’t mean science stops – it doesn’t mean curiosity or investigation or reason or experimental fun stops. And I want those who don’t get to have their science know that we stand with them.

I know this is waaaaay late into 2013, but I only just got sent this link to the website “Know Your Meme” and their list of the top novelty Twitter accounts of 2012 – where @SarcasticRover placed #2! Not too shabsy.

Last night, the 5th Annual Shorty Awards were held at the Times Center in New York City. Honouring the best in Twitter and social media from around the world, The Shorty Awards are known as ‘The Oscars of Social Media’, and feature dozens of categories, celebrity hosts, presenters, and winners that have included Ricky Gervais, Conan O’Brien, Justin Bieber, and Jimmy Kimmel.

Among the award recipients last night was the parody Twitter account @SarcasticRover – created and written by Calgary screenwriter Jason Filiatrault – who won the Shorty Award for the category of “Best NonHuman”, beating out two dogs, three cats, and an alien.

Though unable to attend the ceremony in person, an acceptance speech from Filiatrault was played before the audience in New York, and online to his more than 100,000 followers.

@SarcasticRover is a parody account of the Mars rover Curiosity and was started back in August, 2012 when Curiosity touched down on the surface of Mars. Since then, the account has grown steadily – even attracting the attention of NASA engineers, astronomers, bloggers, and celebrities including Bill Nye “The Science Guy”, Rainn Wilson from ‘The Office’, and Star Trek Voyager’s Jeri Ryan. The account still updates daily with jokes about science, astronomy, and pop-culture – all told from the eyes of a bitter robot trapped on Mars.

Last night’s awards were hosted by actress Felicia Day, began with a special video from New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, and featured guests such as as Wolf Blitzer, Seth Green, Miss Teen USA, and even the real Mars Curiosity Rover. Other winners at the awards included first lady Michelle Obama, Jimmy Kimmel, CNN, Comedy Central, Selena Gomez, and Canadian astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield.

You can read more about the event (including @SarcasticRover’s acceptance speech), and about the Shorty Awards at the following links:

I just want to pop up here in human form and thank those that nominated and decided to give me an award. I realize that there shouldn’t really even be an award for posting jokes on the internet while pretending to be a space-robot, but seeing as there is – I’m rather humbled to have won it.

In all truth, this award belongs far more to those who actually put the rover on Mars, and those who struggle everyday against increasingly long odds to keep expanding our knowledge of the universe and who foster our curiosity to explore it.

So, thank you to everyone who follows and who writes and who occasionally appreciates and supports my dumb Twitter account. You’re all very, very kind and I really do think you’re awesome.

The Shorty Awards asked me to record a 140-Character acceptance speech, which you can watch… here:

Very nice article in the Ottawa Citizen – the daily newspaper from Ottawa, Canada… my nation’s capital. I hope all the politicians read it and now they want to be my friend / give me lots of socialist funding.

The Los Angeles Times website has a nice post up collecting some Halloween-themed tweets from yours truly. I assume since it’s from L.A. that I’ll be getting a call soon to star in a movie or something, so… seeya suckers!